Bar stool observations#1 Are you paying attention?Ciarán Harris, 1st Movember, 2012, Ireland.

A Crash Course on Creativity, Professor Tina Seelig, Stanford University Venture Lab

Hey, she said stores not bars!

In Ireland, the staff of retail stores are incredibly suspicious of individuals who lurk about for 15 minutes and take copious amounts of notes. Furthermore, they frown upon people taking photographs in store. Many marketers do it out of necessity when checking out the competition, but if they are caught by staff or security they are often forced to delete photographs on the spot.

Bars, however, actively encourage people to lurk around for prolonged periods, it fuels their business model.As for photographs, they say the more the merrier!

Products

You may argue that the primary commodity a bar trades is drink, that of the alcoholic variety.

However, in Ireland the drinks industry is neatly sewn up by a handful of big breweries & distillers, essentially the product choice is virtually identical in establishments across the nation.

Thus, I would argue that the primary commodity Irish bars offer is their atmosphere and their craic. The immeasurable feelings and emotions that the surroundings and clientele evoke.

The following observations reflect and emphasise this ethereal quality.

Context

As with any observations, the context of the observations is all important.

Many of these places are utterly transformed by their contexts. Here we see the Black Sheep on a typical night, and how it appears during the day.

For this exercise I observed the various premises in a typical context that I would normally visit them, a quiet Saturday pint, a mineral water during the theatre interval, a holiday weekend down the country, a friend’s birthday in the city.

Bars, pubs, public houses, locals, call them what you will, Ireland is famous for them. So how did I choose just 6 from so many greats? I shortlisted potential pubs with a rapid process of first ones that came to my mind, applying some selection criteria these were culled ruthlessly down to 6, followed by a brief visit to each.

Paradox of choice

Wait a minute, spreadsheeting the Irish pub experience would be a terrible crime. Let’s do this properly.

Let the observations begin...

http://goo.gl/okJhX

The Palace Bar21 Fleet Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

A lovely old-man’s pub, full of muted old world grandeur, from the narrow entrance that skirts the long bar with it’s little snugs, you make your way to the large reading area, lit by stained glass skylights, here many of Ireland’s literary giants whiled away their hours nursing pints of Guinness or hot whiskeys.

In the evenings there are traditional music sessions upstairs, and it gets busy.

Come GAA match day the crowd is out the door, downing the last pint or two before the afternoon’s game.

If this were a retail experience, it would be Harrods or Saks. Nothing here is rushed.

Interesting aspects of this establishment include the very narrow entrance, made narrower again by the rickety stairs to the upper bar, where the music is played. Should it be widened? You’d lose some of

The Palace Bar21 Fleet Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

the old world charm the place exudes.

Following observations it’s hard to suggest structural improvements that wouldn’t detract from it’s character.

How about clientele? For the greater part of their trading hours they are under capacity, however, prolonged busier periods would destroy the peace & quiet.

With admission to the fantastic Guinness Storehouse museum, adults are entitled to a pint of the freshest black stuff you can get, in the stunning Gravity Bar.

This bar is modern, sleek and sexy - probably not an image you associate with Sir Arthur’s porter.

All steel & glass, perched atop the old redbrick storehouse building, you get to enjoy your pint with magnificent unobstructed views of Dublin city.

The Guinness StorehouseGravity Bar, Guinness Brewery, St. James Gate, Dublin 8, Ireland.

That’s fine in theory. In practice if you get here on a Saturday or Sunday, not only are you going to have to queue for admission to the museum as a whole, you’ll find the Gravity Bar jam packed.

The Guinness StorehouseGravity Bar, Guinness Brewery, St. James Gate, Dublin 8, Ireland.

However, even on busy days it’s easy to get close to some part of the glass and admire the city from this modern vantage point.

A lot of time and effort has gone into crafting a very special experience. You can only get one pint here, obviously a crowd control measure, after that you can retire to one of the bars on the floor below and purchase to your heart’s content.

If this was a retail store it would be an Apple Store.

A curios family owned pub in the little North Kerry seaside resort of Ballybunion.

Each generation has left it’s stamp on the place. The current owners have extended it massively, allowing a large area for live bands to play. There’s an eclectic mix of decor, form the original old-world pub fixtures, to the broken surfboards the locals used to surf the point break inches from the cliff.

The Exchange InnMain Street, Ballybunion, County Kerry, Ireland.

Currently favoured by those barely legal enough to drink, it makes a fella in his mid-30’s feel old. If this was a retail store, it would be a kiddies curiosity shop.

The bar here serves pre-performance & interval refreshments. Thus, unlike many bars or pubs around Ireland, it serves a functional assistance role, rather than being a standalone entity.

The transient nature of business is reflected by the fact that there are so few seats and even fewer tables.

The decor attempts to put one at ease, however the sense of urgency remains.

If this was a retail store, it would be a Waitrose or a M&S.

The Abbey TheatreAbbey Street, Dublin 1, Ireland.

Ordinarily, this functional hotel bar is quiet.

But come the GAA finals a huge portion of the 90,000 fans attempt to smuggle themselves into this bar. It’s crowded, noisy, uncomfortable, a system straining at the seams. So what’s the attraction?

First up, it’s right across the road from the stadium, secondly, the players always make an appearance and mingle with their adoring fans.

If this was a retail store, it would be a Walmart with the occasional celebrity.

Jury’s Croke Park Hotel Jone’s Road, Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland.

A lovely pub serving many fine craft beers. They keep things simple. Understated decor, muted palettes, a well categorised beer menu, a simple food menu, and staff with a sense of humour who enjoy working in a place where people who care about beer come to drink.

Overall a great vibe.

If this was a retail store, it would be a your corner bookshop.

The Black Sheep 61 Capel Street, Dublin 1, Ireland.

Summary

Following these observations I could have made a series of recommendations and efficiencies, for example, to Joe or Willy of Ballybunion’s Exchange Inn. Either of them would have laughed it off, told me to have another pint, and they’d quickly forget them.

As demonstrated here, often observations are entirely subjective, and dependent on many factors and contexts.

Certainly insights can be generated from observations, but often the insights come from drawing analogies with other walks of life, extrapolating, connecting the dots.

Truly disruptive insights do require observation, but they also require the ability to interpret & process these observations in a new & unusual manner that accompanies a unique context.